


The Lost Ones

by kurokun2338



Series: The Becoming Trilogy [1]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Action/Adventure, Android Emotions, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Data (Star Trek), Epic Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Romantic Friendship, emotional development
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:41:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23701729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurokun2338/pseuds/kurokun2338
Summary: When Geordi and Data are infiltrated by an alien species, they face not only a threat to their biological and positronic systems, but also the most frightening of all: emotions.
Relationships: Data & Geordi La Forge, Data/Geordi La Forge
Series: The Becoming Trilogy [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1731559
Comments: 50
Kudos: 104





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi and welcome to my first Star Trek TNG story. It is set after Season 7 and before the movies/the emotion chip, so I have the freedom to explore the emotional topic about Data and Geordi, which is a lot of fun. The story is pretty much finished, so if the world won't go down completely, it will be updated twice a week on tuesdays and fridays. I do already work on a second episode, so I hope you will like this one and keep reading :)

A jolt went through the Enterprise and the red alert was blaring. Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge held on to his terminal with one hand and with the other an ensign who would otherwise have been hurled through half of main engineering.

"What the-" he muttered, making sure the ensign was okay. She gave him a grateful nod, then he activated his communicator. "Engineering to Bridge."

"Go ahead, Geordi, and do it fast," replied Commander Will Riker. "We are quite busy."

"I would appreciate it if you could announce shaking tests," Geordi said, and an even more severe quake passed through the Enterprise.

"Shields at one hundred percent, hull integrity of the drive section at seventy percent," Data’s always quiet voice sounded in main engineering. "Geordi, you should prepare for further shaking. We are experiencing turbulences."

"Turbulences that damage the hull but not the shields?"

"Affirmative, Geordi."

"It doesn’t make sense. What’s the cause?" Geordi was typing on his terminal, giving hand signals to his staff to stabilize the hull.

"My scans cannot find a cause."

The Enterprise was shaken again, this time so violently that the hull integrity of the drive section dropped to thirty percent.

"Another impact like that and we’ll have a hull breach," Geordi reported. "The warp drive’s working, why don’t you get us out of here?"

"What do you think is causing the tremors?" Will now replied a touch grumpier.

"Stop all engines," Captain Picard’s order sounded through Engineering. "Mr. Data, report."

"Scans show no barriers or anomalies, no life forms or vessels. Long-range scans have detected increased levels of neutrino radiation in this sector. However, it has almost no effect on matter."

"So, there is no reason for our current situation?"

"None that I can detect, sir."

Geordi heard the Captain’s distinct inhalation and could visualize his serious expression quite clearly.

"Mr. Worf?"

"Detectable or not, the radius of our movement is no more than three kilometers, sir."

"I can confirm that, Captain," said Data. "Based on the recoil range, and taking into account our velocity to the-"

"Summarize, Mr. Data."

"We have a range of motion of approximately five point nine eight five square kilometers, sir. Decimating."

"Wait a minute, Data," Geordi said. "Are you saying that this... cocoon around us is getting smaller?"

"Precisely, Geordi."

"All senior officers report to the observation lounge for a briefing. Mr. La Forge, we’re expecting you."

***

It took Geordi two and a half minutes with the turbolift, then he sat in his usual place next to Data, who nodded at him. The meeting had already begun.

"If something’s out there, I can’t feel it, Captain," Counselor Troi said regretfully.

"What did the collision look like?" Geordi asked. "If the drive section was damaged, images from the battle bridge should show something."

"Mr. Worf," the Captain nodded at him. "Put it on the viewer, please."

In front of them in the air appeared the view of the main viewer of the battle bridge. A clear jolt went through the ship, but on the viewer, nothing could be seen except the quiet space and the stars.

"We flew into nothing?" murmured Geordi. Thoughts raced through his mind, and a crazy idea came to the fore. "Data, you said we had a clearance of about six kilometers."

"Actually-"

"I know, but we don’t really need it that accurately. Caution, though, or we’ll shoot ourselves off."

"Ah, I understand, Geordi." Data turned to Captain Picard. "We should test the boundaries of our prison. In the event phaser radiation is reflected, we must be able to endure it."

Geordi nodded and turned directly to the Captain. "I can set one of our phasers to fan out a pulse burst and hit as much area as possible. It also has the advantage that a ricochet would cause less damage. Captain, I’d like to borrow Data to make the adjustment. We also need to stabilize the hull. We’ll need half an hour to do that."

"Make it so, Mr. La Forge, and keep us informed."

***

Half an hour later, Geordi and Data were standing at terminals in main engineering, making the final adjustments. Often, Data preferred working deep inside the Enterprise to his duty on the bridge. Working on the most sensitive systems of Starfleet’s flagship created a feeling of satisfaction. To the extent that he was capable of feelings in his android way. He knew he shared that attitude with Geordi - after all, he hadn’t been appointed chief engineer for nothing. Which regularly put Data in the happy position to work with him on extensions and adaptations of the systems.

"Almost done." Geordi was typing commands into his console as Data saw with a 0.13-second glance. "It’s pretty crazy, huh?"

"What exactly do you mean, Geordi?"

"We’ve seen so much in the last seven years, constantly expanding our technology, and yet we keep coming across situations that we can’t explain."

Geordi’s voice sounded joyful, his pulse was slightly elevated, signs of expectant excitement. "It is natural, considering the size of the galaxy," said Data. "And it is the part of our work I find particularly ... gratifying."

Geordi paused and then looked at him with a grin. "Me too, my friend."

Their camaraderie had been especially appreciated by Data during his years on the Enterprise. And he had learned a lot about humanity from Geordi. By now, he was able to empathize in his own way with Geordi and other colleagues he saw as friends in many situations and was able to recognize moods more and more easily. He even understood sarcasm a little. Only humor would probably never be his strong side.

"Hull stabilized and reinforced." Geordi completed his final entry with satisfaction.

"Phasers set and ready," said Data, looking at Geordi, who nodded at him, and tapped on his communicator. "Engineering to bridge."

"Picard here. Are you ready, Mr. Data?"

"We await your order, Captain."

"Captain Picard to crew. Please prepare for the announced test."

Geordi put the image of the main viewer on their monitor.

"Picard to main engineering: Energize."

Geordi and Data observed the phaser pulse, which fanned out red, moved further and further away and finally disappeared into space. Geordi laughed triumphantly.

"I see from your laughter that you expected this outcome, Geordi?"

"You bet."

"Mr. La Forge, what is the explanation for what we haven’t seen here?" the Captain’s voice sounded into main engineering.

"It’s simple. A prison without walls is not a prison."

"Therefore, we are our own prison," Data continued Geordi’s thoughts, and his positronic brain sent a small impulse through his system at this realization. "I will scan the Enterprise."

"And I’ll join you in main engineering," Captain Picard said with much more impatience. "I will take my time and expect a better explanation when I arrive."

***

"Incredible!" The three of them looked at the monitor, Data with interest, the Captain with a wrinkled forehead and Geordi with undisguised enthusiasm.

"It is a parasite, Geordi. Certainly not a reason for joy."

"It is an unknown life form," said the Captain, "so Mr. La Forge’s excitement is quite understandable. If it would not prevent us from continuing our journey."

"The mere fact that it’s capable of that is unbelievable. Do you have any idea how much energy it would take to pull the Enterprise back to its original position at Warp 9?"

"Enough to damage our hull, Lieutenant Commander." Captain Picard looked at his chief engineer with little enthusiasm.

"Excuse me, sir." Geordi rubbed his neck in embarrassment and Data saved the moment as _typically Geordi_. Not without a reassuring and, as he knew, almost imperceptible smile for Geordi. His friend needed such little signs every now and then, just as Data needed Geordi to tell him every now and then that he was already more human than Data himself believed.

"Since I can now search for a known pattern, I have rescanned our surroundings." Data typed some commands into the terminal and a three-dimensional star chart appeared in front of them, with the Enterprise in the middle. Dozens of little dots appeared around it.

The Captain tightened up. "Even if we could get rid of our stowaway, we would immediately catch a new one. Am I understanding this correctly, Mr. Data?"

"Not necessarily, sir. We are surrounded by these entities, so we have already passed some who did not care for us."

"But that could still change," Geordi said, leaning against the terminal. "At present, we know too little."

Picard made a sound that was both understanding and dissatisfied. "What are we dealing with? Is it biological?"

"Yes and no." All three turned to face Doctor Crusher, who had just entered main engineering. "According to the scans, it is electro-organic. A bit like our neurons. From what I understand – and what I see on the monitor in front of you confirms this assumption – these beings maintain a certain distance from each other. Maybe, they would inadvertently transmit energy, if they were too close."

Geordi nodded. "That would explain why our appendage keeps pulling us back. But why did it attach itself to us in the first place? It should be able to survive without an external power source, like its comrades."

"Starvation?"

Geordi looked at Data with furrowed brows. "Since when do you make unrequested assumptions without foundation?"

"I am not doing this, Geordi. Not without foundation." Data was typing on the console. "This is the power level of the hull since the repairs. It is stable. And this is the power balance."

"Wow." Geordi adjusted his visor. "We’re using way too much power to stabilize the hull."

"But not enough to trigger a warning," Data added. "I have also been continuously scanning the entity for the past half-hour." An outline of the Enterprise from below appeared on the monitor – displayed on the underside of the drive section was the entity’s outline. As it grew and grew and grew. It was still small, about two meters in diameter on a ship 685 meters long. But-

"If it’s already absorbing that amount of energy now, how much will it take if it gets any bigger?" As Captain Picard looked around, no one said a word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think, I'll be back next week :)


	2. Chapter 2

Again, they sat in the observation lounge, their faces serious. Geordi and Data had finished their report and Captain Picard looked at his senior officers with folded hands.

"Well, you’ve all been fully briefed on our situation. Any suggestions?"

"How about a short energy surge through the hull?" Worf suggested. "If it receives too much power at once, it could ... burst." Counselor Troi winced.

"I would prefer a less lethal removal," Captain Picard objected. "And there’s still a chance that another entity will take possession of us as we try to move on. Doctor, have you been able to find out more about this creature’s biology?"

"Unfortunately, no. I’d have to get closer."

"To be honest, I’d like that, too," Geordi said. "Data’s found a peculiarity in energy absorption."

"Please, Mr. Data, enlighten us."

"With pleasure, Captain." Data reached for his PADD. "There is a certain rhythm to the energy peaks." The energy equalization reading came up as a line on the monitor.

Doctor Crusher took a deep breath. "That’s a pulse."

"Not quite, Doctor," Data replied, zooming in on the peaks. Each of the high peaks was accompanied by dozens of small peaks.

"That’s multiple pulses," said Counselor Troi, staring at the monitor with a smile. "It has young?"

Geordi nodded. "It would appear so."

"And we are the milk bar," Captain Picard added dryly.

"If we were to remove them now," continued Counselor Troi, looking at the viewer with concern, "would they die?"

"There is a chance," said Data, and shut down the image. "I have deep-scanned other nearby entities, all of which are about ten times larger than ours and possess many times of its energy. For reasons unknown, our entity was probably in a state of starvation before we came."

"Captain," the Doctor turned to Picard. "This is a medical problem, not a technical one. I need to know more about the being ... this entity."

The Captain nodded. "Agreed. Mr. Data, please assist Doctor Crusher. It seems your scans need refining."

"Aye, sir."

"Number One, Mr. La Forge, you are both trained in the noble art of hull hiking. Try to get as close to the entity as possible, gather information and, if possible, tissue."

"Acknowledged, sir," they both said at the same time and grinned at each other. Data saved the moment as _comradely humor_ and again his positronic brain rewarded him with a small energy impulse.

"Mr. Worf, you are responsible for their safety. Do not let them out of your sight for a second. Have O’Brien beam them aboard immediately if it gets too dangerous."

"Yes, sir." Lieutenant Worf was clearly not happy with that arrangement and Data could understand it. His warrior nature and position as head of security required him to accompany them. On the other hand, Data was unsure how an electro-organic mother with dozens of young would react to a Klingon warrior.

"Captain, I have another suggestion," said Data, who during their conversation had compared previous requirements with their current situation.

"Please, Mr. Data."

"Geordi could be wearing the visual acuity transmitter we used on Stardate 41503.7."

Worf’s muscles tightened. "I have a vivid memory of that incident."[i]

"And I remember the sight of Mr. Data through Mr. La Forge’s eyes." Captain Picard smiled.

Data had looked at the images himself after the mission and had to admit that it was an unusual sight to see himself as a dark scheme with a luminous aura.

Geordi touched his left temple, where the transmitter would be attached. "We had further enhanced the spectral analysis after the mission. The contrast and sharpness are more adapted to natural-seeing eyes. But the device was not used again."

"We have disabled and archived the interface to the main viewer," said Data, "but if required, I can reactivate it within half a minute."

The Captain nodded. "Very well, make it so, Mr. La Forge, and stand by, Mr. Data."

***

Geordi and Will were lucky. The entity had attached not too far from an exit hatch on the belly of the drive section. They only had to walk forty meters in their spacesuits. With switchable magnetic fields at their feet to be able to walk along the outer hull of the ship without drifting away, it was still hard. Geordi declared his sports program completed for the rest of the week.

He held a medical tricorder in his right hand, typed with his left and could slowly make out an outline. A pulsing red glow appeared on his visor. What he couldn’t make out was a specific shape. The entity seemed to waft.

"Commander, what do you see in front of you at one o’clock, approximately ten meters away?"

Will stood still, the phaser in one hand, a normal tricorder in the other. "Absolutely nothing. But Data’s new scans indicate a life form."

Geordi nodded. "I thought so. La Forge to Data."

"Go ahead, Geordi."

"Reactivate the interface. The Captain just has to see this. And you, too. Can you and Doctor Crusher continue to work on the bridge?"

"No problem, Geordi," Beverly replied immediately.

"I will activate the interface first, then we will head for the bridge," Data said.

"All right. In the meantime, we can run the scans and I’ll try to get the samples. As it turns out, the Commander is unfortunately unable to see our mother and her children." Geordi couldn’t keep the laughter out of his voice, and Will punished him with an angry look.

"Careful, Lieutenant Commander, or I’ll have to put an admonition in your personal record. For disrespectful behavior."

Geordi smiled. "You’re welcome to assist me."

Will rolled his eyes. "I’m just wasting oxygen. Give me the medical tricorder. I think I’m capable of that. Take care of the sample. But watch out, young mothers are very sensitive."

Slowly, Geordi moved closer, always one cautious step after the other. After each step, he paused for a moment to observe how the entity behaved. It had definitely grown even further and was now a good four meters in diameter. In his visor, it looked like a pulsating red cloud. Without form, without solid state and whether it had consciousness he could not see yet. But Geordi was drawn to it.

"Data to Commander La Forge."

"I hear you, my friend," he said, staring further into the red pulsation.

"Geordi, we can see everything you see on the bridge."

"Okay."

In the cloud he now recognized many small pulse centers that were beating in the same rhythm, only at a smaller amount, a little less luminous.

"Geordi, that’s close enough." Will’s voice got through to him, but his body made no effort to stop. Why should he? Why shouldn’t he be allowed to be closer to something so wonderful?

"Geordi, Commander Riker is right," he heard Data through the communicator. "You are less than one meter away."

He wanted to immerse himself in this pulsation, become one with it, lose himself completely in it.

"Lieutenant Commander La Forge, step away from the entity immediately, that’s an order!" He heard the Captain’s voice, but the words made no sense at all. Geordi stood in front of the entity, reaching out his hand.

"Geordi!"

He was grabbed by the arm and dragged back. Then he felt a rip. He looked down at himself. There was a cut in his spacesuit above his stomach. Immediately he held it closed with his free arm, briefly his breath was taken away and the cold of space seemed to dig into his intestines.

"O’Brien beam-"

Before Geordi, the entity, the Enterprise and space blurred, then the transporter room appeared before him and the surprised face of O’Brien. His body began to shake with no apparent reason. He sank to his knees on Will’s arm and was still holding his stomach.

"That was close," said O’Brien, checking up on Geordi. "I thought Lieutenant Worf would tear me apart over the intercom. Now I see why."

As if on command, the Captain, Worf, Data and Beverly stormed in. Data got to Geordi first and took off his helmet. The soothing white glow that was so typical for Data helped Geordi to think clearly again and his body stopped shaking.

"What was wrong with me?"

"There is insufficient information available," said Data in a calm, soft voice, and wiped the spacesuit off Geordi’s upper body. He looked down at himself again. His blood soaked through the black shirt.

"Lie down," said Beverly, already having a medical tricorder over him and pushing the shirt up. Data continued to kneel at Geordi’s side and looked back and forth between his stomach and the tricorder. "Let me give you something for the pain. The cut is deep. It must hurt pretty bad."

"No need," Geordi said, and the next moment he was surprised himself. "I'm not in pain."

Doctor Crusher looked up from her tricorder and plugged the corresponding hand scanner back into the device. "Not at all?" She put her hand close to the wound, Geordi shook his head. She squeezed a little, but even as she squeezed harder and blood ran over her fingers, Geordi felt no pain.

"Strange," she said, tapping her tricorder.

"Do you feel anything other than pain?" asked Data, looking at Geordi with his head slightly tilted.

"Just a small pulsation in my stomach."

"May I?" Data reached out to him with his left hand. "Perhaps I can sense something that is not captured by the scans."

"Please."

Data carefully placed his fingertips near the wound. As soon as their skin touched, a sharp pain went through Geordi’s stomach and Data’s hand flinched back as if he had received an electric shock.

"Intriguing." Data looked at his hand, then Geordi. "Before we came in, I adjusted my vision to your visor. I could clearly see a red haze passing from you to me."

"That sounds ..." Creepy? Scary? None of those fit, because Geordi still didn’t think this entity was dangerous. "How do you feel?"

"I am functioning within normal parameters." A brief tilt of the head as if a new thought had crossed his mind. "How do _you_ feel?"

"I’d take the painkiller. And then maybe you could close me up again, doctor?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [i] Series 1 Episode 20 Heart of Glory


	3. Chapter 3

Data accompanied Geordi and Doctor Crusher to sickbay. The Doctor attended the wound and re-scanned both Geordi and Data thoroughly. They both looked at her expectantly. Repeatedly, she shook her head and compared the results on her PADD. Georgi slid back and forth on the bed he was sitting on. A hint of concern washed over Data’s positronic matrix. He frowned.

"Doctor, won’t you tell us what’s wrong?"

Doctor Crusher looked at them one by one and then shrugged. "I haven’t the slightest idea. Fact is that the scans show neural interferences. In both of you. The same kind."

"I feel good." Geordi patted himself on the stomach. "The pulsation’s gone. I’m fine."

"I can confirm that for myself as well," said Data. "I have run two self-diagnostics and have not found any abnormalities."

The doctor sighed. "All right, you can go. But I’ll expect you for another examination before your shift tomorrow."

"Thank you, Beverly." Geordi was already off the bed and in the passageway to the waiting room to sickbay.

Data nodded at her and joined Geordi.

"Crazy," Geordi said. "How can you and I have the same neural interferences? Our neural pathways function in completely different ways."

"Not completely, Geordi. The basic idea is quite the same. Doctor Soong has adopted the humanoid design wherever possible. My neural pathways run from my brain through my spine the same way yours do. Except I have no bone marrow."

"I know that, Data, I’ve worked on you often enough. But biology and mechanics are different."

Data thought about this statement for 0.14 seconds, while another thought moved forward. "May I ask a personal question, Geordi?"

"Always."

"When Doctor Crusher did not report her findings, did you feel concerned?"

"Sure. You can’t always tell when there’s something wrong with you."

"I have had that experience, too."

"Why do you ask?"

Data stopped and Geordi did the same. "Geordi, will you run a diagnostic on me?"

"Sure. Is there anything to worry about?"

"I do not know." He was silent for 2.76 seconds to find the right words. "I myself have no capability for emotions, as you know. Therefore, everything suggests that I sensed your concern in sickbay."

***

In Data’s quarters, they had been busy diagnosing him for an hour. Data’s interface on the left side of his head was connected to his workstation, Geordi checked his PADD and gave him results. Spot, Data’s red pet cat, had curled up on his lap and slept while he stroked her.

"I see what Beverly meant," Geordi said, showing Data his PADD. "Compared to previous diagnoses, it’s only a small variation, almost marginal. But we’re talking about your main processor here."

"Before, there had never been any deviations that I had not initiated myself."

"Let’s keep an eye on this," Geordi said, put the PADD down and grabbed the tricorder. "Maybe this entity messed something up inside of us after all. The way I acted out there, I wouldn’t be surprised."

Geordi smiled and Data mirrored his facial expressions. He saved this moment under _friendly reassurance_ and _comfort in an inexplicable situation_. The impulse with which his positronic brain rewarded him this time was somewhat stronger than usual.

"Woah." Geordi looked at Data from the tricorder, then held the display up to him. "What was that? Did you get an electric shock?"

Data blinked. "Unusual. Normally, rewards do not cause visible deflections. I would have noticed that in my self-diagnostic."

"Hold on, hold on." Geordi placed the tricorder on Data’s workstation and leaned against it. "What rewards?"

"Electrical impulses, too small to be measured by a tricorder."

"That’s not what I meant. What are these rewards for?"

"Pleasant experiences."

If Geordi hadn’t been wearing his visor, Data certainly would have seen his widened eyes, if his raised eyebrows were any indication.

"When exactly were you gonna tell me about this?"

"I did not think it was important enough. It is not a newly discovered subroutine like the dreaming."

"Not important enough?" Geordi wrung his hands. "Data! You have not had a reward center since the beginning of your existence. That’s a big deal. That’s human!"

Data tilted his head, then nodded. "You are right. I am sorry, I should have told you."

"You don’t need to apologize." Geordi breathed out audibly. "And, of course, you don’t _have_ to tell me anything. But between good friends, you share things that you wouldn’t share with anyone else."

"I know, Geordi. I have not shared this development with anyone yet."

"Actually, that’s not like you." Geordi tilted his head, almost as Data did, only not as mechanically. "Usually, you like to share new discoveries in your programming."

"Hm," Data said, and had to agree with Geordi. "I cannot find an explanation." Except that he didn’t know in what part of his programming this development should be hidden. But even that was something he would normally have told Geordi.

"It’s definitely exciting. When did you first notice it?"

"Three months, six days ..." Data paused, the grin on Geordi’s face widened. "Just over three months ago."

"And what was the occasion?"

"We talked about friendship in main engineering while working together. You said I was your best friend. I saved that moment under _Geordi friendship_ and received my first reward. However, I saved several similar situations. None of them had ever triggered a reward before."

Geordi was silent, his smile had narrowed, his visor was still pointed at Data.

"Did I say something wrong?"

Geordi shook his head. "I’m just a little touched. I remember the conversation and that you were distracted for a moment. And I’m glad that something I said triggered your first reward." Geordi’s voice had become as soft as Data had rarely heard it.

"So am I." Data wasn’t sure under what keyword to save this moment. He was just sure he should use a new category. So, he saved it under _Geordi reward_ and made a note to rename the category once he found a more appropriate term. The reward that was triggered this time caressed his sensors and even Spot seemed to notice the change. She looked up at him and meowed.

"Your aura lit up." Geordi looked at him, this time he wasn’t smiling.

"Then you can see stronger rewards. Intriguing."

"Not really. As I see your positronic glow, it’s only logical that I can see higher activity, too."

"That is correct. However, it is intriguing that rewards show a higher activity of my positronic matrix than complex, parallel operations that I perform continuously. I should be able to see that in my diagnoses."

"Let’s monitor this. Maybe we can find the reason later." Geordi distanced himself from Data’s workplace. "I’ll see you tomorrow in sickbay."

Data nodded. "I will run a self-diagnostic before. I now know what to look for."

"Do that. Good night, Data."

"Sleep well, Geordi."

***

Geordi would have preferred to ignore the penetrating alarm clock racket the next morning. He didn’t feel like he had slept at all. His body was heavy and his mind still unavailable. He didn’t usually have that kind of trouble in the morning. Doctor Crusher would not like that at all.

He took a quick shower, got dressed and made his way to sickbay. He got a headache on the way down. It was actually too early in the day for that.

"Good morning, Doctor."

"Geordi, good morning." She came to him with the tricorder in her hand.

"Has Data not arrived yet?"

She pointed to the empty area behind her. "As you can see. How are you? You don’t look very rested."

"I’m not." He told her about his observations. By the time he finished, the headache had subsided. That wasn’t usual either. Beverly scanned him repeatedly and then frowned.

"How can this be?" she murmured. "It’s as if your condition improves as I scan you. Your pulse is getting stronger, your temperature is rising a little, your breathing isn’t as shallow as it was when I first scanned you."

In fact, Geordi felt considerably better. They heard the door and Data came in.

"Good-"

"Data," Beverly said as she turned to him, "tell me you have a log of your vital systems for the last ten minutes."

"That is what I wanted to talk to you about, Doctor. Good morning, Geordi."

Geordi nodded at him briefly. "If you’ve felt as bad as I have since last night, we don’t need the log."

They looked at it on one of the screens anyway. It was as incomprehensible as Geordi’s scans.

"I was almost not able to quit my dream subroutine this morning."

"You overslept?"

"Almost. I ran three self-diagnostics after that. All showed abnormally low energy levels in all vital systems. It was only in the last two minutes and 47 seconds that the readings began to improve."

"That was also when I started to feel better."

Data turned to Beverly. "Doctor, have you made any progress with your analysis of the entity’s data?"

"Yes and no. Again. The entity is composed of a kind of very fine aerosol, which is why it looks like a cloud to you, Geordi. But I imagine it could also take solid form. I have not been able to determine the elements of which it is composed. I’ve been up half the night looking through scientific papers and books, and I can’t find anything even close to this described anywhere. Fact is, it can absorb different kinds of energy and feeds on it. Electrochemical energy as well as electronic and positronic energy seems to work. It is also a fact that it continues to grow. Our appendage already has a diameter of over twenty meters."

"Maybe it will release us if we do not emit energy anymore," said Data and Beverly shrugged.

"Quite possible. But the question remains, how to remove what has settled within the two of you."

"One problem at a time," Geordi said. "Let’s go to the bridge and make the suggestion."

***

For the third time in twenty-four hours, the senior officers had gathered in the observation lounge. The Captain listened intently to Geordi and Beverly and then looked at his Chief of Security.

"Mr. Worf, your opinion, please."

"For us, I see no danger. So far, none of the creatures have attacked us. However, I do not see why it is better to let the creature starve to death than to perhaps kill it with a high energy pulse. In either case, the result would be speculatively lethal, but a languishing death from starvation would be far crueler."

Will looked at the Klingon with excessive surprise. "This is the first time you’ve objected to a _gruesome_ death, Mr. Worf. What happened to _dishonorable_?"

"It is unclear whether the concept of honor applies to these entities, Commander."

All eyes were on Data, most of them amused.

"Sarcasm, Data," Geordi mumbled, finding it difficult to hide the grin. Those moments were priceless and so Data.

"Ah. I see. However-" His eyebrows flinched briefly. "Actually, I do not understand why the death of a living being is the basis of a joke."

"Mr. Data is absolutely right, Number One." Captain Picard gave the Commander a stern look, which wasn’t meant half as stern as Geordi realized. Will almost successfully suppressed the grin.

"Apologies, Captain."

"We all agree that we cannot stay here until we have fed the creature and its offspring until they are sated," the Captain continued. "If only because that will probably never happen. I don’t like the idea that we might have to leave it to starvation. But as we can see, its conspecifics get along very well without us. Maybe it’s just too weak to survive in its natural habitat."

Geordi was overcome with an unpleasant feeling when he heard those words.

The Captain continued speaking after a short break. "Let’s make it so and see how it reacts. I hope it lets us go willingly. Otherwise, we’ll have to go back to Mr. Worf’s idea after all."

A slight nausea passed through Geordi and his stomach seized.

A gasp made him look up. Deanna stared at Data with her mouth open. He sat motionless next to Geordi, one hand pressed against his chest.

"Data?" Geordi grabbed him by the shoulder and a wave of panic swept over him. As soon as he let go of his friend, the panic subsided, leaving him with more severe nausea.

"Geordi ... I ..." Mechanically, like a robot from the late twenty-first century, Data turned to him, eyes widened and without a blink.

"You’re not functioning within normal parameters at the moment, sure that, my friend. Me neither. We’ll fix it. Captain, I’d like to take Data to main engineering for a full diagnostic."

"Make it so, Mr. La Forge. And have yourself examined as well. We need you both healthy and fully functional."

Geordi had Worf escort Data out. He still didn’t dare touch his friend again, perhaps exposing himself to another wave of panic. When he tried to leave the room, Deanna held him back. They were alone and the ship’s Counselor looked at him with concern.

"Geordi, whatever happened to you two, it’s changing you. I can feel it in both of you."

"We've noticed the changes too, but the scans-"

"Geordi," she grabbed him by the arm and looked at him urgently. "I can feel it in both of you. Do you understand? I feel Data."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wait a sec - two chapters on one day? Yeah, well, it's my birthday today so I thought why not. Plus I'm going for two chapters a week from now on so this won't take forever to upload.
> 
> Thank you so much so far for reading, leaving Kudos and reviewing :D I'll be back on Tuesday. Also: if you like short stories you might want to jump over to my story "The Perceivers".
> 
> Have a good weekend and stay save!


	4. Chapter 4

Geordi entered his office with unusual reluctance. Main engineering was his realm, literally, and Data knew that he liked being here as much as in his quarters. Sometimes even more. So, there could only be one reason for his hesitation.

"Delaying contact with me is not expedient, Geordi."

His friend sighed and the tension eased somewhat. "I know, I’m sorry." He entered his office, where they could make a diagnosis in peace. "You gave me quite a scare."

"Me too."

"And you know what the craziest thing is? You really looked like it. Scared. How can that be, Data?"

"I do not know. But I would have preferred a different feeling as the first one I have ever felt."

"Oh, Data." Geordi shook his head, but he smiled. "In your own way, you have already felt before. Differently than us humans, sure. But we also have to learn to name what is going on inside us. This is much harder for you because with us humans you have a basis of comparison that does not correspond to how you function. I think your desire to be more human sometimes gets in the way of recognizing what is developing within you. You are a pioneer of your species. You have the great privilege of defining what android feelings are. Who will deny them to you? Who but yourself can understand how your positronic brain is evolving? And humanity isn’t all sentimentality and talk. What you do shows who you are. You’re more human than some of the people I’ve met. In your own way."

The remnants of the fright were driven out of Data’s system by a mixture of gratitude, belonging and a warmth he had not yet been able to name. He saved the moment under _Geordi reward_ and said: "Sometimes what you say does show who you are. Thank you, Geordi. I am func ... I am feeling better now. We can run the diagnostic."

Geordi nodded, put his PADD on the terminal and connected the transfer cable to the main computer. He turned towards Data, his hand approaching the flap on the left side of his head, below which was the interface he needed to connect Data to the computer. Five point four centimeters in front of it, he paused and stopped moving.

"Geordi?"

His friend sighed and let his hand sink. "All right, I’ll be frank. I think we are connected. Emotionally. When you had that... panic attack earlier-"

"This statement is not logical. If I am to develop feelings, they are of a completely different ... well, nature-"

"I felt your panic when I touched you!" Geordi hit the terminal with his flat hand, making it beep multiple times. "Sorry", he mumbled to the computer, then turned back to Data a bit more calmly. "It felt very real. As if it was spreading to me."

Data was silent, thought about this statement and compared it with his databases, in which he had stored emotional reactions and had neatly added metadata. "You are afraid it could happen again. Do you think I could become like my brother Lore?"

"Why, no, that’s not the point. Earlier it scared me because I hadn’t expected it and it was very intense. And I don’t think for a second you could ever become like Lore." Geordi took a deep breath, as if the oxygen could help him find the right words. "Feelings are a highly sensitive matter. We humans spend a great deal of energy trying to hide a part of it. The Vulcans have perfected a way to suppress their emotions. You’re only just beginning to accept yours. I shouldn’t ... I at least want you to know that it could happen again and decide for yourself if that’s what you really want."

Again, there was this unnameable sensation that enveloped his processors and warmed his innermost sensors. He stored the moment under _Geordi friendship_ and _Geordi reward_. Then Data reached out and touched Geordi’s shoulder. He watched as his friend flinched briefly and seemed to hold his breath.

"Do you feel anything from me, Geordi?"

Irritated, he shook his head. "No, all is calm."

"I understand. I do not feel anything from you either. Interesting." He let his hand down. "It is very considerate of you that you do not wish to take the control of my feelings off me. However, I can assure you that it is acceptable to me if you are able to sense _these_ feelings. They are not my own."

Geordi’s mouth opened, but not a word came out.

"I have been able to analyze the situation," Data continued. "At that moment my neural network was blocked by the unexpected affective input, so I was unable to respond. The entity that has taken root in me is intelligent, emotional and conscious. You should experience something similar."

Geordi lowered himself heavily onto the chair that was actually intended for Data during the diagnosis. "You’re right. The emotions are not as strong as yours, but when we talked about disconnecting the entity from the Enterprise and even killing it if necessary-" He flinched and held his hand against his stomach.

Data felt panic rising within him, but this time he was prepared. "Look at me, Geordi. Is my aura lighting up?"

Geordi’s visor was aimed at him, then he shook his head, took the tricorder and scanned Data. "No increased deflections in the performance of your main processor, like yesterday. Whatever’s happening, it definitely doesn’t belong to you. But you have an increase in power consumption. Let’s see exactly where." Geordi sighed, got up and rubbed his stomach. "Oh, man. I felt the same nausea earlier. Worse than a Klingon’s feast." He took a deep breath and even Data’s insides worked to contain the alien panic. "By the way, Deanna sensed the feelings in you."

"I am not surprised. Something happened to these entities when they connected with us. They seem to be becoming more tangible. It is interesting that Counselor Troi can sense its feelings in me, but you can see my own from my aura."

"I wonder if it’ll stay the way that I can see deflections of emotion in you. I can’t see what exactly is behind it, but it still feels like I’m poking around in your insides."

"As my engineer, you already do."

Geordi looked at him with eyebrows raised to below his hairline. "Was this a real joke? Data, don’t overwhelm me today."

Data wondered. "I am merely stating a fact."

Geordi laughed and patted Data’s shoulder. "It’s okay, buddy. Sit down and let’s get started."

***

The in-depth analysis, which they normally only run once a year and had already done three months ago, revealed two types of news. The high energy consumption was partly due to increased activity in the development of Data’s positronic brain. It was like an infant whose synapses were multiplying and interlocking. Except that with an artificial intelligence like Data there should not be any spontaneous transformation of his neural network.

Another part of the energy, however, seemed to simply disappear, which was impossible according to all known laws of physics. They had probably caught a parasite after all, unknown life form or not.

Data had just left main engineering and Geordi observed the energy level of the hull, which had been completely shut down. All systems that could remotely transfer energy into the hull had also been shut down or diverted. Everything looked fine, now only this energy parasite had to let go of them and they could take care of the problem that was inside of them.

Geordi turned from the side terminal to the main console of main engineering and swayed. Only now, without concentrating on his work, did he notice that he began to feel worse again, similar to how he felt in the morning. The constant headaches his visor was giving him became a steadily increasing throbbing pain in his brain, which became lodged behind his eyes. He handed over the command to his deputy and left his workplace with unsteady steps. In the corridor leading to the turbolift, he tapped his communicator.

"La Forge to Data."

"Yes, Geordi."

"How … are you feeling right now?"

"I feel like I am having a malfunction. I am using too much energy to maintain a stable level for normal operations. How do you feel?"

"Similar. My energy level drops in a nosedive. And I’m having a pulling sensation in my stomach and a headache."

"I experience a pulling sensation in my chest and slight failures of my optical sensors. I do not think I will make it to the bridge."

"Let’s meet in sickbay."

"Affir-"

In the middle of the sentence Data broke off and Geordi only heard a rumble, then nothing more. He called him several more times, let the intercom give him Data’s position and rushed through the ship.

When the doors of the turbolift opened to the bridge in front of Geordi, Worf and Beverly were already there. Data lay stretched out on his back and Geordi’s heart sank into cold space until he heard Data’s voice.

"I am fully functional again, Doctor. Lying on the floor is a most undignified position."

"But a necessary one, until I complete the scans."

"Data!"

"Geordi, how utterly-" Data tried to sit up, but Worf pulled him back down, "-delightful."

"You will not get up until Doctor Crusher allows it. I don’t want to have to drag you half-unconscious from an elevator again."

"Unconsciousness is a state that an artificial being cannot achieve, as it is a reaction of the biological nervous system, which I do not possess. I had a malfunction that resulted in a partial shutdown of my systems-"

"Don’t be too hard on him, Mr. Worf," Geordi interrupted Data’s flow of speech before the Klingon lost his not-so-abundant patience. "Our next stop would have been sickbay. Doctor, I think you can stop your scans. Data’s just coming out of an in-depth diagnostic. I could find no malfunctions. New neural pathways seem to be forming. From time to time the entity is drawing more energy than we can provide. Nothing more."

" _N_ _othing more_ , no way, Commander La Forge. Commander Data, you may stand. I am declaring you both unfit for duty until further notice. Captain, I must speak to you and my patients in confidence."

***

"Doctor, the way you look at me, you don’t have anything good to say." Captain Picard had a steaming cup of Earl Gray in front of him and seemed to be waiting for bad news.

"We have a bigger problem than we feared."

"Looking at our so far unsuccessful attempt to starve the creature at our stomach and withdraw from this sector, I doubt it."

This time Geordi only felt a slight nausea and looked at Data. He nodded at him, barely noticeable.

"I spent half the night dealing with these beings and immersed myself in solidification theories on organic aerosol organisms. I emphasize: theories. There is so much nonsense on this subject, no wonder I could hardly find any references in Starfleet archives, let alone work on it. I have found exactly one halfway credible source. A Bajoran exploration mission describing a very similar being, albeit in a different sector. However, many centuries ago. They had better luck than we did and stopped before they even entered the kindergarten."

"Kindergarten?" asked the Captain. "Explain, Doctor."

"These creatures are raising their young here. Actually in pairs, as it was described. The aerosol-like companion always stays in the same place with the young. The other solid companion, which we would be able to see with the naked eye without our scanners or Geordi’s Visor, moves away regularly, fills up with energy and comes back for feeding. As with many species we already know."

"So, the question is, where is the companion?"

"This is becoming an urgent matter," said Data. "We are continuing to scan the surrounding entities. Their energy levels are also dropping, and they are contracting."

The Captain took a careful sip of his tea and then looked out of the windows into the seemingly empty space. "So, we have a dying nursery school out there, no idea where the energizing companions might be, and two officers, each with an entity inside them, the effects of which are becoming more and more drastic and we cannot separate them. Correct?"

The pain in Geordi’s head swelled up again, right behind his eyes as he had never experienced it even through his visor. There were strange mists in front of his eyes, trying to form a shape. But the more they tried, the more painful it became, until Geordi feared his eyes would burst out of his skull.

"Stop, stop, stop!" He tore the visor off his face and the next moment, he got so sick, he almost threw up.

"Relax, Geordi, I’ll give you something for the pain." Beverly’s voice came to him like through cotton wool.

Something heavy laid on his hand. Panic flooded over him, such an elementary fear as one can only feel when one’s life was in danger. Geordi’s fingers clung around what had been laid on his hand and he tried to breathe calmly. The fact that the pain disappeared almost instantly with the application of the hypospray helped to stay sane.

It was a good thing Deanna wasn’t in the room. She probably would have fainted at that intensity of negative feelings. When Geordi could breathe easily again, he reached for his visor with his free hand. Beverly’s worried face appeared before him. The Captain looked at him attentively, almost expectantly. His eyes fell on his hand, which had clenched around glowing fingers. He looked up at Data. His head jerked and he blinked twice.

"Another incident of this nature will result in a temporary shutdown of my systems." Even his voice sounded mechanical and cool. Nothing compared to his usual smooth, quiet tone.

"It wants to communicate. It understands us and tries to show me something. How about you?"

"Panic and chaotic, visual impulses."

"Have you tried my visor sight? It seems my entity can work with it."

"My visual sensors are only partially functional."

Geordi no longer felt any emotion from Data, the entity within him seemed to have calmed down. However, his aura continued to fade.

"Captain, I think it’s our only chance to somehow communicate with these entities within us."

"I’m afraid so, too," Picard said dryly, but the worry on his face was clear. "Doctor, you spoke of a theory, I believe you hadn’t gotten as far as that in your explanation. Please, enlighten us."

"No one here will like it. The theory is that if this fusion lasts long enough, these beings will solidify in a solid living organism."

"We are both solid, living organisms," Data remarked. "I believe the solidification of these entities in our systems would result in our complete destruction."

Beverly sighed. "That’s why I said no one will like it."


	5. Chapter 5

"I feel like a cyborg." Geordi was lying on a biobed in sickbay. On the left side of his visor was the visual acuity transmitter, which transmitted its image to a monitor on a terminal that had been disconnected from the main computer. On the other side, a cable led to Data’s interface at the back of his head.

Data turned to him from the terminal. "Is it helpful if I say this comparison is apt, but I see nothing negative in it?"

Doctor Crusher looked at him disapprovingly with an "Oh, Data," but Geordi laughed.

"That was a very Data’esque comfort attempt. Thanks, my friend, that was helpful."

Data nodded, saved the moment under _Geordi friendship_ , _Geordi humor_ and created the new category _Data’esque comfort_. He was rewarded, as he had hoped, with a small impulse. As additional information to the new category he noted that obviously not every person was equally suited for every kind of comfort in every situation and that this required further observation. He was glad that Geordi and he were mostly _on the same wavelength_ , as it was commonly called.

"I’m not sure if that really works," Geordi then said in an earnest voice and repeatedly and unnecessarily adjusted the visor.

"Neither am I," said Data. "But it is the only way we can try to transfer your visual overload to me. My positronic matrix can handle much higher levels of input than a human brain. I can also act as a translator. I have direct access to the Enterprise’s linguistic databases, including non-verbal ones."

"And I will monitor your vital signs and brain functions at all times," said Doctor Crusher. "If you are in pain, I will suppress it as much as is safe for you so you can communicate with this entity."

Geordi sighed. "Well, let’s hope it understood us and will make another attempt. Are we ready?"

"Ready," said Data and the Doctor simultaneously.

Data took Geordi’s hand - this time not to give comfort, but to feel the entity’s emotions as soon as it became active.

Nothing happened.

For minutes.

As if the entity, now that it was being observed, no longer wanted to draw attention to itself.

Geordi sighed in annoyance. "I don’t believe it. First you mug me twice and I almost keel over. And when we give you a platform, you act all shy, or what? Do we have to start again with forcibly removing your big counterpart out there from the Enterprise?"

Data first felt the rising panic but was able to disconnect it from his consciousness and move it to his subconscious. Then he felt the increasing pressure of Geordi’s hand and heard him moaning in pain.

Data accessed the visor and imported all input directly into a delimited area of his memory that he had prepared for this work. At the same time, he began to analyze and evaluate the data.

"Doctor, can you please take over the terminal. I must concentrate fully on these procedures, or I could damage Geordi’s visor or brain. The pain should diminish when the data is automatically transferred to me."

His voice sounded mechanical with concentration. He hadn’t been allowed to work on such a demanding task for a long time and his brain spurred him on to continue with several small impulses. He felt the nausea in Geordi, triggered by the entity. The pain that had developed in Geordi’s body, on the other hand, he didn’t feel, and he was glad about it. It would only have distracted him to feel his best friend in that state. It was strange enough to feel anything at all.

The more information he analyzed, the better he recognized the logic, could put it together into meaningful images and fill a database with translations. Everything was mixed up and nothing made any sense. But it didn’t have to yet. They merely created the basis, the visual dictionary.

"Good," Data finally said and blinked, ending his deep concentration. "We can now ask specific questions. They have to be simple questions with simple, short answers, the database is very rudimentary because of the little information we have received."

"Little information?" Geordi raised his head from the bed and supported himself on his forearms. "It almost made my brain explode."

"As I said, I can process much larger amounts of data than a human."

Geordi sat up and pressed a fingertip into his chest. "Data, if I didn’t know you, I’d say you're being pretty smug."

"Hm." Data had to admit that this impression could arise. But in the end, Geordi did know him.

"Gentlemen, please return to the subject at hand," said Doctor Crusher. "I suggest we begin by asking questions to confirm our knowledge base. Entity, please be patient, even if you want to tell us everything at once. We want to help you, but communication is difficult for us. So: Are you keeping us here, so you won’t starve?"

The images, which were now guided through data and returned to the visor in a processable structure, appeared on the terminal’s monitor. A small, glowing red ball burst open and scattered.

"Even I can interpret that image," Geordi said. "It means yes."

"And you want to save your young."

Again, the same image appeared.

"I think I found some old information about your species," the doctor continued. "Your companion was to supply you and your young with energy. Is that correct?"

Another yes appeared.

"Do you know where your companion is?"

A yes mixed with a yes running backwards.

"That’s a yes and no," said Geordi. "You know where your companion should be. But because they’ve been gone so long, you’re not sure they’re really there."

Another yes burst on the monitor. Then, almost cautiously, more images followed, which Data translated.

"The Companion should have been back before a certain amount of time, which I cannot interpret. So should the companions of the others. It had especially many young to care for, because it took over the ones of another, who had already died. So, it gave one of the young to Geordi, along with a small part of itself to save at least one."

"Why me? Was I just too close?"

"Your visor attracted it. It realized too late it wouldn’t be enough of a power source for the young. When I got close enough, the young was transferred to me." He turned to Geordi and the Doctor. "Since I am a machine and generate my energy differently than an organic life form, I was the logical choice." They both nodded and Data continued to translate. "It had to leave its part in Geordi because it needs an organic shell for its split-off part."

"Isn’t it possible that the part inside me can be transferred back to its main body on the Enterprise?"

"Only if you touch it again." Data looked at Geordi with an almost apologetic expression. With the next images of the entity he listened up. "Ah, this is interesting. The young in me could not exist long without its connection to the parent. It requires an emotional exchange. Therefore-" Data faltered at the next images and blinked several times. Without a word, he sent a reply in the language of the entity, which was displayed on the monitor, but nobody could read except the two of them. The Entity’s reaction irritated him even more.

"Data?"

He felt a firmer pressure on his hand and looked down. They still hadn’t broken the connection, although that would have been possible minutes ago.

"Therefore?"

Data disengaged their hands and went on speaking. "Therefore, we must not move too far from each other. Which explains our todays’ condition."

A moment of silence followed in which everyone processed what they had just experienced. Data’s thoughts worked in parallel on a statement that the entity had directed only to him.

Doctor Crusher sighed. "The Captain will be highly pleased with these developments. " She shook her head. "I’d like to ask the entity a few more questions. Some approximations should be possible, though there are no words for some images."

***

It was not even evening and Geordi was already so weary that he could have fallen asleep on the spot. Especially the last hour in which they had communicated with the entity had been exhausting, although he hadn’t done much himself. But since all the input went through him into his visor and only then into Data’s system, it still cost him a lot of energy.

They sat together in Beverly’s office. She and Data had informed the Captain and Will and were getting to the point that had to be decided.

"The Entity knows where its companions should be and could lead us there," Data said matter-of-factly.

"Do we even know exactly where it would take you?" the Captain wanted to know, and that was the weak point of the plan.

"No," Geordi said, rubbing his tired face. "It was not possible to get an understandable description. The entities do not navigate by course and their names for sectors or stars are untranslatable for us."

"Then how exactly do you know how long you’ll be on the road?" Will asked.

"It is unlikely that the journey lasts more than a few days," Beverly said. "This is our second day here. The Entity said that the period of time since we’ve been here is the same in which the Companions were supposed to return from the food search. And I don’t assume the Entities travel at Warp 9."

The Captain nodded thoughtfully. "Our long-range sensors had detected nothing but neutrino radiation. With a travel time of one day for one route we should have come across something."

"Captain, there is no other way," Data said. "If we wait, Geordi’s and my systems will definitely fail in the next few days as soon as the entities inside us solidify. They will not leave our bodies unless we act."

"However," Geordi added, "the parent entity within me assured us that we could bring its young in Data back to its main body. That reduces the risk to me alone. The Enterprise and its crew will definitely survive, even if power levels continue to drop. You’ll just have to wait here. And feed the entity again to keep it alive."

The Captain rubbed his forehead and turned to Will. "Number One, your advice?"

"This is not an immediate threat to the Enterprise, no matter what we do," Will said, looking at Data and Geordi. "Your lives are at stake. None of us should be deciding this. I’m only sorry I can’t help you. Neither in deciding what to do, nor in dealing with the consequences."

"I feel the same way," the Captain muttered. Then he nodded. "Commander La Forge, Commander Data, I leave the decision to you and will support you without reservations."

"Thank you, Captain," Geordi said. "We’ve already decided." He looked at Data and he nodded.

"We will seek the companions. All we need is a shuttle and equipment."

"I still have to adjust my transmitter," Geordi tapped on his left temple, "so Data can process and view the images directly himself."

"I am already working on my own settings," Data said. "We will start testing right after I return the young to the parent entity."

"Commander, can you get us somebody to help organize the equipment? We plan to start tomorrow at 0800."

Will smiled brotherly at Geordi. "I will personally see to it that you get everything. And I believe Mr. Worf should assist Data in his mission, Captain? Regulations state that no person may walk alone on the hull."

The Captain nodded. "Make it so. And let me know when you are ready to leave."


	6. Chapter 6

The preparations took a lot of time. Bringing the young back to the main body of the parent entity was no problem thanks to Data’s visor view and went uneventful. Will organized all the equipment Geordi listed for him and had the shuttle prepped. But the work on the connection between the visor transmitter and Data’s optical sensors took much longer than expected.

Doctor Crusher asked Geordi several times if she should give him a mild stimulant. But he didn’t want to risk any side effects with any medication with part of an unknown being inside him.

They had asked his entity about the solidification theory and it confirmed that such cases had already occurred, but the last one had been so long ago that no one in his community had experienced it themselves. So, they could only speculate about the time span available to them. Fact was that both the host and the entity would die if it came to the worst.

Another unknown variable was how the part-entity would further behave in its host. If the solidification would proceed in the same way, if the main body would die with the part within the host, how far it could move away from its main body without feeling any effects. Geordi tried not to think about it too much and concentrate on his work.

When at some point during the night everything finally worked satisfactorily, the equipment and the shuttle had been checked and a last conversation with the entity had been held, he staggered into his quarters with the support of Data.

"Please come in for a moment," Geordi said as the door opened. He trotted over to his sofa and fell heavily on it, Data right at his side.

Geordi took the visor off, the familiar pain in his temples ebbed and he rubbed himself across the heated, tired face.

"I’ve never had a mission that felt as difficult as this one," he said and put the visor back on. Data’s aura glowed familiarly before him. Looking at him calmed Geordi’s mind and the headache faded into the background. "As a commanding officer, life-threatening missions are part of the deal, and I’ve survived so many that I can’t count them. I’m prepared to die in battle, defending the ship or my comrades. But the thought of dying on this mission feels so useless."

"You have had too much time to think about it," said Data. "A fight usually does Not announce itself for days. And you can take action yourself. On this mission, there is no enemy, nothing to defend against. All we can do is wait. This is an exceptional situation."

"It scares me more than having a Romulan fleet under my nose." Geordi sighed. Maybe the last two days had been too mentally exhausting or maybe this entity within him was affecting him in ways he couldn’t comprehend. He wasn’t sure if he was up to the mission, but at the same time he knew he had no choice. Some images of the entity appeared before his eyes. Well, not a chance. He still didn’t understand it, and Data was disconnected.

An arm wrapped around his shoulders and Data pulled him gently towards him. Geordi didn’t resist, leaned his head against Data’s shoulder and closed his eyes for a moment.

How strange. Data had never touched him without reason before. It was always Geordi who gave Data a friendly touch here and there. He’d never thought about it, it felt natural. After all, they were best friends. And Data had never commented on it.

"Geordi, do you remember when my daughter Lal began to develop emotions?"

Geordi opened his eyes again but didn’t move from his position. "Of course. It was incredible that she was capable of that without an emotion chip. Even if it was the cause of her death."

"Her neural network was evolving too fast, resulting in irreparable, cascading failure of her systems. I re-analyzed and compared her experiences in my database."

Now Geordi sat up and looked at Data. "Compared to what?"

"To my own experiences of the last two days and my current development. I have come to the preliminary conclusion that I am undergoing the same ... evolution as Lal. My neural network is forming the basis for emotional replication. This process could not be stopped by removing the entity’s young from my system."

"And what does that … mean to you?"

"I do not know. It is possible my neural network will react the same way as Lal’s. Like her, I am incapable of stopping it from developing. Like her, I cannot prepare for what will happen to me."

Geordi was silent while he kept looking at Data. His aura began to fade, and a thought crossed his mind.

"Could it be that I see not only the impulses of your reward center as a flash of your aura, but also negative deflections? Your aura has faded while you have been talking about the changes."

"Perhaps. It is-" Data blinked, which he sometimes did when he was thinking to find the right words. "-unsettling. I still barely feel the effects, except through illogical thoughts and unreasonable impulses."

Geordi laughed. "Like the hug? It is neither illogical nor unreasonable, but comforting. You have acted appropriately to the situation."

Data nodded. "I see. My databanks on human behavior confirm what you said. Still, it is strange to act before I know why."

"You did very well, Data, thank you."

"You are welcome." Data smiled and his aura lit up. If the changes in Data made this glow appear, the development could not take a negative turn. Something so beautiful simply could not be lethal.

"I should be able to sleep now," Geordi finally said, and they stood up at the same time.

"Good night, Geordi." Data walked through the room to the door.

"Thanks for... telling me about this," Geordi said, and Data turned again.

"Thank you, too."

***

Data had handed Spot over to Lieutenant Commander Barkley, who would look after her while he was away. Another self-diagnostic showed him the progressive evolution of his neural network.

He arrived at the hangar at 0745 sharp. Geordi was already at their shuttle, discussing with Doctor Crusher.

"The longer you delay us, the more likely this will be. So write your report if you must, tell the Captain whatever you want, but don’t hold us back. Data, we’re leaving now."

Data didn’t ask any questions for the moment, just nodded at the doctor who looked at them and activated her communicator as they both boarded the shuttle. Geordi started the engines before they even sat down, didn’t even wait until the gate was completely open and steered the shuttle into space.

Data turned to his friend in his seat.

"Your conduct was not in compliance with Starfleet regulation number thirty-seven concerning the handling of a vessel’s shuttle, section seventeen-"

"Data."

"-paragraph six, nor common courtesies of humans in general or Starfleet-"

"Data."

"-officers in particular, and notably, it was not in the least bit in keeping with your nature."

"Data."

"Geordi. Explain, please."

Geordi took a deep breath, but looked further out into space, which only irritated Data even more. "Beverly examined me again. It has begun. The solidification is visible on the scans."

Data was staring at him. For a full 4.73 seconds. He could almost feel new connections forming in his neural network to reproduce another feeling. A feeling as if he had fallen into ice water, was pulled into the depths and the sun above him was getting smaller and smaller until the light was swallowed whole.

His first attempt to speak failed. Data couldn’t even open his mouth. A malfunction caused by the rapid formation of new neural pathways. He swallowed, tried to encapsulate this new feeling and move it to his subconscious where he could deal with it later in peace. But in contrast to the feelings of the young entity, his own feelings did not allow this to happen.

"Has Doctor Crusher been able to predict how quickly it will progress?"

Geordi was typing commands into his control unit and shaking his head. "It may take a few more days, or maybe twenty-four hours."

Data stared at him for another 7.59 seconds without moving. Cognitively, he had already processed the information. He understood that Geordi was talking about only having a few days or hours left if they didn’t find the companions and bring them back to the Enterprise. He also knew that the emotional response he felt was normal in such a situation. What he didn’t know was how to handle it. Too many unknown variables and new features made an evaluation impossible.

"You must set the course, Data." Geordi’s voice sounded flat and heavy and not at all like Data’s best friend. Nevertheless, he was right. He did exchange a few brief images with the entity and set a course. The entity possessed a sense of orientation based on the evaluation of ambient radiation on the one hand and on a spatial calculation that Data didn’t understand because of the strange image communication on the other hand.

Then he read images that the entity had sent him before and that were only meant for him.

Inside.

Companion.

Open.

The interpretation of the images was always difficult, but Data didn’t even understand the context. He asked again, but the entity remained silent. Surely the process of solidification was as exhausting for them as it was for Geordi.

On their journey they were mostly silent. Geordi seemed to have told everything and Data didn’t know what he could have said that might be useful. Besides, it was hard for him to think when he thought of Geordi and the new feelings would come back.

"The scans only show some accumulations of rock in this direction," Geordi said when they had already been traveling a good five hours. "No star, planet or other solids."

Data received a new message from the entity for the first time since the last confusing images. "We are not looking for solids. It is some kind of energy field or mist, maybe a cloud."

"There’s no sign of that either. Only the neutrino radiation is getting stronger. What does that mean?"

Data searched his databases for descriptions of prominent neutrino radiation in this sector and two hundred years into the past. "I find no descriptions of neutrino radiation in this sector."

"And something else?" Geordi asked. "Was there ever anything here that we can’t see today? The radiation is pretty faint. It may have been a few hundred years ago. Or longer. Do we know how old the entities can get or how often they reproduce?"

"Negative. Shut down the engines, Geordi." Data began a search of his databanks, using almost all his concentration to get it done faster.

"You know, Data, if I have to wait out here to die, I’m glad you’re with me. I’d have gone crazy alone."

Data’s search broke off abruptly and his body froze again. He literally could not move, which made the icy feeling of sinking even worse. The motor function of his limbs started to act independently, his hands trembling uncontrollably. He felt his internal temperature rising, his main processor overheating. The frequency of his breathing increased and transferred more cooling air into his systems. He had never experienced such a severe malfunction without being seriously damaged before.

"Data."

Geordi’s voice managed to attract Data’s attention and he looked over to him. Geordi had turned his seat towards him, bent over and put his hands around Data’s.

"Geordi ... what ..." His voice transceiver was failing.

"I’ve never seen your aura so pale."

"Mal...function," he pressed out, but Geordi shook his head.

"Feelings are not a malfunction, my friend. They are what you have always wanted. And they cannot be turned off without the emotion chip. You must learn to deal with them. Humanly speaking: You need to calm down. Come here." Geordi pushed Data’s seat aside and pulled him into an embrace.

Data felt Geordi’s warmth around him, a hand on his back as it stroked gently up and down, their knees touching.

"Sorry I scared you. I didn’t realize how far along your neural network is."

Fear.

Data’s databases poured out some loose information on him.

"Anxiety. Terror. Panic. Frightening or threatening situation. Concerning one’s life, status, close persons. Fight-or-flight. Being exposed. Feeling faint. Despair." Data’s trembling fingers dug into Geordi’s uniform. "I fear for you, Geordi."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Puh, poor boys. And it's getting worse for both of them.  
> I hope, you're still enjoying the story, let me know what you think :)


	7. Chapter 7

Geordi wondered why he felt so calm since they took off. He asked himself if the entity had something to do with it. In one way, it most certainly had. After all, it’s what had gotten him into this state in the first place.

Dying.

There was something morbidly reassuring about the certainty that it would not be long before the end. Even though he’d still rather have died in a fight, in some small feat of strength. Or in a hundred years, quietly in his bed of old age after a long, fulfilling life.

He was worried about Data, though. The new feelings were still too much for his positronic brain to handle. Right now, he was more vulnerable than he’d ever been in his entire life. And soon alone with it. He had a lot of friends on the Enterprise. He could talk to Deanna, who would understand him much better now. Will would build him up, Worf would distract him, the Captain would support him in any way he could. But would Data take comfort from one of them when the time came?

The fact that he had to discover his new feelings like that could cause unforeseeable traumas. Geordi could only hope that either the worst wouldn’t happen after all, or Data was superior in this respect as well and would adapt quickly.

After almost ten hours of flight time, dozens of course adjustments and no spoken word in the last five hours, Geordi finally heard the relieving words from Data.

"Stop the engines."

Geordi looked around but didn’t see anything in the space in front of him or on his console. "This is our destination?"

"So it would seem."

Geordi saw a red shimmer on his visor - the entity's input that was imported by Data before interpretation.

"Some units of time ago, neutrino radiation was much higher. That was what they were feeding on."

"Now there’s nothing here for whatever reason. The companions have surely moved on when they noticed." Geordi was thinking but his spirit felt heavier and heavier, giving him a hard time to do so. "How long is a unit of time?"

"I do not know. Neutrino radiation is very long-lived. I still have no results on my search for neutrino radiation in this sector."

"You may have to go back further. As far back as you can."

"Hm. It could also be a mistake to focus on this sector. The Bajoran observation Doctor Crusher spoke of did not occur here."

"Can’t the entity help at all, at least to limit the time? This area is not very well described, precisely because there is nothing here. But I’m sure it would make your search easier."

"I will try to teach the entity our large numerical values."

"It understands our language, so numbers should be the least of our problems."

Data nodded and sank into the conversation that Geordi only saw as a pale red fog.

The pain in his body became stronger and also in his head. But if he wasn’t wearing the visor, Data could no longer communicate with the entity. The conversations cost them both a great deal of strength, which they wouldn’t have for long. He could have told Data, they could have stopped communicating. But what good would that have done except save a few more hours of life for Geordi? And what would they have done in that time? Wait for Geordi to die?

All of a sudden, Data drove up from his seat. His hands clenched into fists, his face was tense, and his aura was barely visible to Geordi.

Data stormed into the rear part of the shuttle, which was barely more than two meters in length, grabbed the first thing he passed and threw it so hard against the wall that it practically pulverized. Fortunately, Geordi could see that the shuttle had not been seriously damaged, apart from a significant dent.

Geordi struggled to get out of his seat but reached Data before he could mess with one of the built-in benches.

"Data, don’t destroy the shuttle, we’ve only got this one."

Data’s head jerked around to him, his voice sounded pressed with effort to control himself. "The shuttle? Geordi! Your life is at stake! And we are wasting time that you do not have."

"A fit of rage will not change that. If you destroy the shuttle now, I have even less time." Geordi felt the tension in his friend’s body under his fingers and was already expecting that he would break free from the weak grip. He could do absolutely nothing against a raging android, even if he were in better shape.

Data made a frustrated sound and punched his fist into the wall next to him. He made another dent.

"Breathe, Data. Breathe in deeply and out calmly." Geordi pushed him onto the bench and sat with him. Data lowered himself forward, supported his forearms on his knees and breathed. Geordi ran his hand over Data’s back and slowly the glow of his aura reappeared.

"Feelin’ better?"

Data remained silent and stared into space. He looked like a lost child whose world had just collapsed in front of him. Geordi had always appreciated about his friend that he could make his environment think with his partly innocent, partly critical questions about humanity. With his fascination for human peculiarities and his desire to be as human as possible, he had constantly reminded his friends and colleagues what made their species special.

Data tilted his head a little at Geordi and spoke a bit too calmly: "They reproduce once in about 273,000 time units, which the companions need between the energy source and the reproduction site."

Geordi looked at him confused. "Two hundred... Wait, that’s something like 550,000 days. How many years is that?"

"1,495 years, 10 months, 3 weeks and almost 4 days."

Geordi’s mouth fell open.

"It’s a cycle. They live for about 1,500 years, reproduce and raise their young until they die. The energy level in this sector must already have been low in the last cycle of reproduction." He stood up and finally looked at Geordi properly. "I am sorry, Geordi, these new sensations have overwhelmed me. I feel ... helpless and that makes me ... like I am in a fight I lost before it starts."

"Angry. And desperate." Geordi smiled. His friend had never really understood human feelings because he could never feel them like a human being. He had his own android interpretation of emotions, Geordi was convinced of that. But now Pinocchio began to understand - really understand - what it meant to be human.

Data hesitated, as if he had to check this information against his databases. Then he nodded. "These feelings are dreadful. How can you keep dealing with them?"

Geordi shrugged. "We’re born with them. We learn to deal with them all our lives. And even we often find it difficult or impossible to do it. But this is an exceptional situation. You said it yourself last night when you were comforting me. And you had some positive feelings yourself. Friendship and companionship. Joy."

"Hm." Data didn’t sound convinced. Then he shook his head. "How can this happen? My positronic brain is not like Lals. It cannot create new areas on its own that were not previously there."

"You have created Lal in your own image. Based on your positronic matrix. If her neural network was capable of that, why wouldn’t yours be? Much later, but still. Maybe someday you’ll even be able to say _can't_ instead of _cannot_ _._ "

Data smiled. "I understand your humorous implication regarding my inability to pronounce contractions." His aura glowed. Then he straightened up. "Ah, my search for a cause of the neutrino radiation was successful. A supernova remnant."

"That explains a lot. It also explains why there’s absolutely nothing here."

"It takes about ten thousand years for the radiation from a supernova-"

A torrent of pain went through Geordi’s body, so violently that he couldn’t keep himself on the bench. He also couldn’t catch himself as he fell to the ground face first. He was surprised for a moment that he didn’t hit the ground. Then the pain went through his brain and he saw bright light before blackness swallowed him.

***

Data’s inside was completely blank. Normally at least five processes were running in parallel in his system while he was concentrating on one main task. But now all operations had shut down. His neural network was too focused on creating and connecting more and more synapses, like an out-of-control fungus mycelium. This made his inside much too noisy to concentrate on complex connections. Data had again compared his daughter’s experiences with his own. The parallels were undeniable. He was still undamaged.

Geordi’s head lay on his lap and Data’s hand on his chest. Gently he moved his fingers. He could now subjectively evaluate different degrees of firm, soft, rough, smooth and many other tactile stimuli. Going over Geordi’s chest felt slightly rough because of his uniform, firm because of his muscles, and warm because of his body temperature. Data felt his heartbeat and the rising and falling of his rib cage. He was alive.

The entity had tried to communicate with him several times, Geordi didn’t need to be conscious for that. Data had ignored them, but stored the conversation, just as he stored everything.

Geordi’s heartbeat became stronger and his breathing had calmed down. Data didn’t know what pain felt like, but if it was anything as horrible as fear, his best friend had gone through something unbearable.

"Data?" Geordi’s exhausted voice entered Data’s loud head and an impulse passed through his body.

"Geordi, can you sit up?"

Data was helping his friend, who was visibly still in pain. As he sat up, Geordi looked around, then at Data.

"Why aren’t you piloting the shuttle?"

"I have set the autopilot. On this route, I can take the responsibility for it."

"On what route?"

"I have set a course back to the Enterprise."

"What? No! We haven’t found the companions yet." Geordi tried to stand up, but for Data it meant no effort at all to hold him back.

"We will return to the Enterprise, implement Lieutenant Worf’s idea, and the entity within you-" His ethics subroutine kicked in and prevented him from speaking further. It had already almost stopped him from setting a course back to the Enterprise when he was deliberating this plan.

Even without seeing his eyes, Data knew Geordi looked at him in horror.

"Data, no. That goes against everything the Enterprise stands for. And we, as Starfleet officers, too. We do not kill for personal gain."

"I do know, Geordi, I have the complete rulebooks and Prime Directive stored."

"And I don’t think Captain Picard would allow that. The entity is not hostile, it is desperate."

"So am I." Data gritted his teeth. "The entity is killing you out of desperation. Why is it wrong for me to do the same?"

"You couldn’t," Geordi said matter-of-factly. "Your programming, your character would not allow you to kill a helpless creature. For whatever reason. Set another course, at least let us try to find the companions. I don’t want to die so cowardly and passively. Please, Data."

He had lost and he knew it. He felt it in each of his circuits and it seemed to flow through his whole body in his chemical nutrient fluid. He sighed. Had he ever done that before?

"Can you make it back to the control unit?"

"With your help."

Basically, it didn’t matter where they went. At Warp 5 they could travel less than a light year in one day, and that was a lot with a modified Type-6 shuttle. But Data set the same course they came from. The scans showed constant neutrino radiation and, based on the results of the Enterprise’s long-range scans, he could already predict that nothing would change within a radius of five light years. If only he knew that his scans could detect the companions at all.

Had he calibrated the sensors correctly?

He checked again.

Did their course take them back to where the entity had sent them?

He checked again.

Had he really set Warp 5 and were his calculations of the possible distance correct?

He checked again.

He checked again.

He checked again.

"Data, what are you doing?"

Data blinked. What was he trying to do? What had he done? He had no memory of the last 157 seconds. But he remembered Geordi’s question.

"I do not know. What shall-" This time he couldn’t push the images of the entity away, the images pulled his attention as if they were screaming in his face. "Our companions are here, we are saved." Data’s body was flooded with warm impulses and he looked at Geordi. "No one has to die. We can-"

Data broke off in mid-sentence when Geordi bent and gasped in pain. "Geordi!" Data jumped out of his seat, lifted his friend onto his arms and carried him to the back, where he laid him down onto one of the benches. Geordi moaned and held his stomach with one hand, the other lying across his forehead. Data reached for his visor to at least relieve his headache, but Geordi fought him off.

"No, I ... need to see your aura ... please."

Data’s insides started to crack, even though he knew that wasn’t possible. "I ... cannot." How could he have made his aura glow to Geordi when he was in that state in front of him?

Another spasm of pain went through Geordi’s body and Data had to hold him down so he wouldn’t fall off the bench. The screams of his friend went sharply through his brain and he held him tightly, as if he could protect him from the pain.

"There is nothing I can do." Data’s internal temperature rose, increasing his breathing frequency. He lost control of his motor functions and his memory appeared to be completely blank. But his mind was filled with a recurring thought.

"There is nothing I can do, Geordi. Why is there nothing I can do?" The visual input was blurred. Moisture was running down his face and dripping onto Geordi’s shoulder. The body in his arms went limp and Data’s insides broke. He laid his friend down on the bench.

"Geordi." He shook him gently, put one hand on his neck and felt nothing. Had his tactile sensors gone off-line? "Geordi." He could barely hear his own voice. Were his words really that soft, or did his auditory sensors fail? "Geordi." His friend was dissolving into darkness before his eyes. Did his visual sensors shut off?

It didn’t matter. The less he felt, the better. And so he welcomed the nothingness that swallowed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope, you guys are doing better than our poor boys.   
> One chapter left, stick with us!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter, everyone, brace yourselves.

Data felt an indescribable heaviness when his positronic brain booted, and his systems started up. He couldn’t access the source of his condition, but he knew he didn’t want to be activated.

"Jean-Luc, he’s waking up."

"Good. I was afraid you couldn’t fix him, Beverly."

"I didn't, he was not damaged. Scans show no malfunction of his systems. However, there was a surge in expansion and performance in a very specific area of his network, which completely overloaded his main processor."

"What is this area responsible for?"

"I have no idea, I’m not an engineer. But judging by the plans Geordi has made over the years, this section shouldn’t even exist."

Data opened his eyes. His optical sensors adjusted to the ambient light and he blinked. He was in the Enterprise sickbay. He saw Doctor Crusher, Captain Picard, Commander Riker and Counselor Troi gathered around him. Why was he not in the shuttle? Where was Geordi? And why did his body feel heavier at the thought of his friend?

"Why am I here?" Data sat up and started a self-diagnostic. Something was wrong with him.

"It’s a longer story." Doctor Crusher scanned him and looked skeptically at her medical tricorder.

The Commander moved closer to the bed where Data was sitting. "The entities’ companions suddenly appeared when you’d already been gone half a day. Without our sensors being able to detect them. They were just there. And unlike the aerosol beings, the companions can communicate with Deanna. They thanked us for our help, took care of their families, and then ..." The Commander broke off and looked to Counselor Troi for help.

"The entity that had used our energy to survive briefly became visible. Only itself - its young, we didn't see. It said: Our companions are here, we are saved. Then it ... burnt up. In terrible pain." She turned to Commander Riker, who put an arm around her.

"We immediately set out for you," the Commander continued. "When we arrived after the longest four and a half hours of my life and called you, we received no reply. We scanned for life signs and found a faint signal from Geordi and none from you. So, I and Worf beamed aboard the shuttle and found you both unconscious. We beamed you directly to sickbay. That was over a day ago."

Twenty-six hours, seventeen minutes, forty-eight seconds. That’s how long ago Data’s last entries were before he had shut down. However, by now he had discovered that his last memory contained several encrypted sections. Encrypted in a way he had never used before and could not access. He felt incomplete, but at the same time he had a notion that the memories would be dangerous for him.

"Where is Geordi?"

His comrades looked at each other as if they didn't know what to say. Captain Picard finally stepped forward.

"The Where is less interesting than the How." He nodded in the direction of the biobed to Data’s left and he turned.

His friend lay there quietly without his visor, the interfaces at his temples blinking rhythmically.

Geordi was alive.

Why was Data surprised by this fact? He got up from the bed and came closer. Geordi’s pulse was regular, his breathing steady, his brain activity normal. Yet he lay unconscious in front of him.

"How is he?"

Doctor Crusher sighed. "The part of the entity in him seems to have died with the main body, I could not find any remains. However, the entity had already partially solidified. The separation damaged Geordi’s central nervous system. I was able to repair it, but his brain seems to have suffered such a severe shock that he can’t wake up. To be honest, I’m not sure he will ever wake up again."

***

"How long has he been sitting there?"

"Since he woke up."

"Did he say anything?"

"No, he just sits by Geordi’s side and stares."

"I’m feeling very faint ... signals from Data. I can't even describe what it is, exactly. But the fact that I can feel anything without the entity inside him is amazing."

"Please check on him, I’m worried."

Data sensed the ship’s counselor approaching but was not disturbed in his concentration.

"Data."

A touch on his shoulder made him wince. He had never had problems with tactile input from his friends. Now it felt too intense, like his bioplast was hypersensitive.

"Excuse me." Counselor Troi sat down with him, put one arm on Geordi’s bed and stroked his motionless hand. "How are you, Data?"

"That I am trying to find out. My basic components and functions appear undamaged."

"And this new area in your network?"

Data went silent. He didn’t even want to think about that strange, frightening part of his network. He would have preferred to just split it off, archive it and encrypt it so he would never have to deal with it again.

"Counselor, you saw and felt the entity die. Can you imagine what happened to Geordi during the separation?"

She sighed and looked at Geordi as she continued to stroke his hand. "Frankly, I think it’s a miracle he survived the separation. The entity heavily used his brain through the visor to communicate with you. Beverly said that these neural pathways had begun to change before you took off. He must have had terrible headaches." Counselor Troi looked up at Data. "When the entity died, it would have been strong enough to survive with its companion. First I felt infinite gratitude from it and then only pain."

Data nodded. It was consistent with their experiences in the shuttle. "I have also received the last message from the entity. It told me the same thing it told you. _Our companions are here. We are saved_. Counselor, if it was saved, why did it die?"

The empath took a deep breath. "If there was no natural trigger - at least we can’t see one – it committed suicide."

Data frowned. "It had young to care for, why would it do that?"

"I don’t know. Haven't you been able to establish further communication with the entity?"

"Not on this subject. Nothing I have read." A thought flashed through his positronic matrix and he jumped up. "Excuse me, Counselor. Doctor? Could I borrow one of your beds? And could you monitor me in my dream subroutine?"

***

Geordi’s head lay on his lap and Data’s hand on his chest. Gently he moved his fingers. He felt Geordi’s heartbeat and rising and falling of his rib cage. Data didn’t understand why his best friend was sleeping, but after the strain of the last two days, he let him.

The entity had tried to communicate with him several times. Data had ignored it. He didn’t even know why. But the conversations were stored, just as he stored everything, and now he had the capacity to watch them.

He called up the data and found that it was encrypted. Encrypted in a way he’d never used before and couldn’t access. But it was unmistakably his encryption, so he would find the logic behind it.

He quickly realized that it was not logic that he was looking for, but a file. A visual master file. It couldn’t be old because the encrypted data wasn’t older than two days either. It did not take him long to find the master file, but he hesitated to use it. He was afraid of what he would find encrypted, but at the same time he knew that the data was important. Vital.

He started the master.

All encrypted files were released at once and emotions swept over Data like a spring tide. So much negativity. So much helplessness and anger. So much fear and pain. He felt his systems overload under the totally overwhelmed, newly developed areas of his network.

He would end up like his daughter Lal, with a cascade failure of his positronic neural pathways from which he could not recover.

He would have to be shut down.

He would die.

"Data, what are you doing?"

He looked around, but he couldn’t see anyone.

"I do not know. What shall I do?"

"Look at the communication with the entity. That's why you're here."

The voice was right. He couldn’t let himself be overwhelmed. He had to focus and find the memories.

A tricorder blew up in front of Data. His chest felt tight with rage and he could barely breathe to cool his heated interior. "Geordi! Your life is at stake!"

Geordi’s body cramped under cries of pain and he fell forward uncontrollably. Data caught him before he hit the floor. Fear caused the nutrient fluid flow through his systems to stop almost completely, nearly causing a system reboot.

"Data, what are you doing?"

"These feelings are dreadful. How can you keep dealing with them?"

"The entity is not hostile, it’s desperate."

"So am I."

"I don’t want to die so cowardly and passively. Please, Data."

Screams rang through Data’s brain, a torrent of pain went through his body, so violent that he couldn’t stand on his feet.

"I need to see your aura, please."

"There is nothing I can do, Geordi. Why is there nothing I can do?"

The less he felt, the better it would be.

"Data, what are you doing?"

Again, this close voice, which somehow sounded like Geordi's, but wasn’t really. Data locked up the recovered memories, peace and darkness returned to his mind.

"Remember everything again?"

Data swallowed. "Yes."

"Good. Now look at the communication with the entity."

A red pulsation penetrated his darkness. This time, Data didn’t push the images of the entity away.

"I feel our companions. We will live. Come back, save your companion."

So, the entity had already informed them before. And he had simply ignored it.

"Do not ignore me. We are both going to die."

He wondered if they really would have made it if they had flown back immediately. They’d been half a day away from the Enterprise.

"Your companion wants to give his life for me. I cannot allow that. Your life is too short."

A short life was more valuable to these entities than a long one.

"My young are safe. I protect your companion."

It had really done what Counselor Troi suspected. An individual of a totally unknown, long-lived species, who was raising young and with whom they could not even communicate, had sacrificed itself for a human.

"Our companions have arrived. We are saved."

Data hesitated.

Why? Why had the entity repeated this message and transmitted it to the Enterprise? It hadn’t done anything randomly, it had wanted the Enterprise to get that message. Data had a clue.

***

"Doctor, what would you take this for?" Data pointed to one of the spikes in the spectral analysis of the last image data.

"Oh, that shouldn’t be there." Doctor Crusher approached. "No, that definitely does not belong in this area. You’ve found some interference."

"Not just one, look." Data compiled all the conspicuous spikes. "I am merging the interferences to create a new sequence of images. I will import these into Geordi’s visor, where his brain will process them. He does not have to be awake for that, this input is processed automatically, thanks to his interfaces."

"And then ... he should wake up?"

Data turned to her. "I do not know, Doctor. It is a working theory."

She sighed. "All right, I’ll stand by. And, Data, please, no more experiments with your own network. At least not today. You have pushed your systems to the limit with the dream subroutine. I was beginning to worry you wouldn’t wake up."

"I know, Doctor." He turned back towards the terminal, then paused and turned around again. "Doctor, thank you for your help."

"Sure. I’m glad to see you back at work. Then I know I don’t have to worry too much about you."

Sometime later Data finished the work and looked at the new images.

"You still have a lot to learn."

He snorted. Another thing he’d never done before.

"Mr. Data, are you making progress?" Captain Picard entered sickbay with Commander Riker and Counselor Troi at his side.

"I am ready to try it. However, I need Doctor Crusher’s assistance to stabilize Geordi’s biological system."

"I heard you, Data. Captain, Commander, Counselor. Stand clear, please. We don’t know how Geordi will react. If he does."

Data had loaded the new message into his memory, from where he could import it into Geordi’s transmitter and thus into his visor. He put the visor on Geordi. Doctor Crusher nodded at him with a tense face and he performed the import.

Nothing happened.

"I will continually repeat the import."

He looked again at Doctor Crusher, who looked at her displays and nodded at him.

"Something’s happening," said the doctor. "His brain activity is increasing."

The muscle activity also increased. Geordi’s body kept twitching in different areas. Data increased the frequency of the import, so there were no pauses between messages.

"That looks good." Dr Crusher looked at Data and smiled at him. "He’s going to make it."

Data wasn’t convinced. He felt he was missing something. Why were some of his memories and his most intense sensations from the shuttle encrypted anyway? He had done it himself, but why? And with this new method of encryption, no less.

He aborted the attempt and went back to the console. "I missed something. I will need another hour."

Data heard Doctor Crusher compliment the visitors out. Then she joined him at the terminal.

"It looked really good, Data. Don’t you think a little more time would have been enough?"

"That would not make sense. The entity was very effective. It had me encrypt part of my memories using a method I had never used before. It explicitly said _I protect your companion_ , not _I_ _protect you both_. I was not supposed to be protected by not having part of my memories available immediately. I was supposed to learn. This is the message from the interference _. You still have a lot to learn_. "

"And what is it you’ve overlooked?"

"The master file. The image message from the interference should prepare Geordi’s brain but not wake him up. I need to convert the master file into an image message."

"And that takes you an hour?"

Data stopped for a moment and looked at Doctor Crusher. "No, Doctor, I will require approximately ten minutes. If you do not mind, I would like to be alone with Geordi when he wakes up."

She looked at him dismissively. "In a case like this, I really should-"

"Excuse me for interrupting you, Doctor. I would not risk Geordi’s well-being just to prove a point. I want to be alone with him because I do not know how I will react. In the last few days, I have shown behavior that is new to me and makes me feel uncomfortable. Geordi can handle it. Better than I can."

The doctor smiled. "I see. Call me as soon as he’s awake or if you need me before then."

Data nodded. "Thank you, Doctor."

Ten minutes later he was back at Geordi’s bed. He was tense and nervous. How could people function reasonably with these constant emotional distractions? He breathed deeply in and calmly out, just as Geordi had told him. Then he reached for his hand and imported the new image message.

He never again wanted to have to helplessly endure situations like the ones he had experienced in the last few days. He never again wanted to feel so at the mercy of circumstances and his feelings. Even though he had heard again and again that there were no positive and negative emotions, different emotions triggered positive or negative reactions in him. He might have had only limited influence on the circumstances. But he would have to work on himself.

An intensive tactile input on his hand made him focus again. Geordi moved and they were more than just muscle contractions as before. He grabbed Data’s hand.

"Geordi?"

Data had learned an important lesson in becoming human. Emotions, as much as he had wished for them, were highly complex and dealing with them was even harder to learn than human interaction.

"Wake up, Geordi. Please."

He would have preferred not to know what emotional pain meant. Fear of losing an essential person. Anger at not being able to help. But it was part of it.

"Data." Geordi’s head was moving back and forth as if looking around. "What are we doing in sickbay?"

Data’s emotional network seemed to have frozen at the moment Geordi said his name. A tense silence had taken hold of him. "How are you feeling?"

Geordi examined with his free hand first his stomach, then his head. Then, with Data’s help, he sat up. "Surprisingly good."

Data’s reward center returned cautiously. He was glad, just so glad, to have Geordi back. The heaviness he had carried with him since he woke up in sickbay vanished, giving way to relief and warmth.

"Data. You're crying." Geordi’s voice sounded surprised and Data wiped his face in irritation. Gold-colored fluid was left on his hand, apparently a highly diluted version of his nutritive fluid.

"My apologies, Geordi. I am not saddened by your awakening. On the contrary."

Geordi stared at him with his visor. Then he smiled and hugged him. Data was at first too perplexed by the gesture in general and the tactile input it triggered in particular to react. The response to the input, however, was not alien to him. But the reward of his positronic brain was more intense than he had ever experienced. A warm tingling sensation like a light electric shock ran through his body. He stored the moment under _Geordi reward_ and provided it with the meta-emotions of relief, joy and happiness.

Data told Geordi what had happened since his breakdown in the shuttle. He took it calmly, but with astonishment. The only thing Data left out was the content of the entity’s last two image messages. He was unsure what to do with it and didn’t want to overwhelm them both now. He would tell Geordi as soon as they both had time to _digest_ what had happened, as it was commonly called.

Especially the message that the entity had sent him several times and which he had not understood while still in the shuttle. Now he knew what it meant. _Open yourself to your companion._ In essence, Data did not understand what a companion was. He had encountered too many interpretations of the term, all differing in essential nuances. He would consult with Counselor Troi later.

Data hoped to find the right words for the moment so that his friend would understand what he wanted to tell him.

"Geordi. You do know that I ... am very fond of you. In my own way."

"Yes, of course. It’s mutual, after all."

"I entrust you with my systems, my development and thoughts, because I know they are safe with you. It is still unclear how my network will develop, whether it will suffer a cascade failure like Lal’s. And after your experiences with my latest evolution, I could understand if you do not wish to be bothered by it any longer-"

" _Bothered_?" Geordi’s voice rose three and a half notes when he interrupted him. "Data! I should rather apologize to you for transferring the young to you and speeding up the development of your neural network to the point of crashing. I don't because I had no influence on it. What happened was not our fault. You are the most important person on this ship to me. If there’s anything I can do to help you evolve, I’d like to do it."

"Even though you saw me in this state?"

"That’s exactly why. Data, I’ve never seen you more human than on that shuttle. You had the misfortune to have your newly formed synapses and neural connections overloaded with negative emotions. How could you have known how to handle that? But you can learn. If anybody can, it's you."

Data felt his whole system sink into warm impulses and saved the moment under _Geordi friendship_ and _Geordi reward_ with the meta-emotions of solidarity and affection. He still hadn’t found a better name for the category, maybe he never would. It was the most wonderful thing he had ever felt, and he couldn’t imagine that there could be anything that would surpass these feelings.

Geordi laughed, put an arm around his shoulders and pulled him towards him. "There you go, feelings are not only dreadful. You’re glowing from the inside out."

Hesitantly, Data put a hand on Geordi’s back, then he smiled as well. Touching was definitely something he had to learn. With the newly developing feelings, he felt them completely different and more intense than before. But if Geordi accompanied him on the journey to his humanity, he would master this biggest challenge of his unique being.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked this first adventure - if so, leave a kudo or comment, they always encourage me to keep writing :)
> 
> As you have surely noticed, this is the first part of a series and it will be a trilogy. I still have to polish the second episode up a bit and this week is superbusy, so it will start next week probably at the weekend and I will upload on a weekly basis. Between chapters I'll upload a few short stories in my "The Daforge Short Treks"-Series. So stay tuned and I hope you all will be in again.


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